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Joker
The Joker, is the main antagonist of The Dark Knight. He was an illegalist mastermind that presented himself as an "agent of chaos", who overthrew the mob control and became the dominant power in the criminal underworld by almost thrusting Gotham City into anarchy and drawing Batman ever closer to crossing the fine line between heroism and vigilantism. Potent in both mental combat and strategic planning, his physique was defined by his clown makeup and gruesome Glasgow smile to add sick comedy to all his crimes and misdeeds. Biography Origin and Early Life While little information regarding the Joker's early life before he turned to a life of crime was confirmed, nobody in Gotham City knows who his true identity was, and despite his capture, no traces could be found on his fingerprints, dental records, or DNA matches against the Gotham City Police Department's databases. The Joker's own testimony, while normally quite true when it came to carrying out threats, seemed at times contradictory, and he was so far known to give two conflicting accounts describing when describing past events in his life, more specifically how he got the scars of his characteristic Chelsea grin. One of the anecdotes he related on was that during his childhood, his extremely abusive and alcoholic father often tormented him with antics such as using clown for babysitters, giving his son a crippling fear of clowns, or beating his mother right in front of him. One night, when the father went off crazier than usual, the mother reacted by taking a kitchen knife to defend herself. This angered the father even further, so he took the knife and attacked her with it before turning the blade on his son, sticking it into his mouth and slicing two long gashes of gruesome scars on each side that made the boy's mutilated smile. Many predicted that the Joker grew up as an orphan following the incident, being humiliated and frightened by his friends and family due to the scars, which started to heal as time went by but still took his frustration and anger on his father for making him such an outcast. His luck seemed to change in the other story he told centering on his early adulthood when he married a beautiful addicted gambler who always told him that he shouldn't worry too much and should smile more often. Because of this, the Joker often made a perfect smile every time he accomplished something that he was always good at that his mother used to say he should never do for free. This advice went overhead when his wife fell into a difficult debt with enforcers of loan sharks who eventually cut her face as retaliation for her lack of payments, and without enough money for her nor the Joker to afford cosmetic surgeries, she was miserably forced to endure her disfigurement. The Joker, however, didn't even care about the damage to her appearance and just wanted to see her smile again, going great lengths to cheer her up by taking her to fun places like a circus, where he eventually had to face his fear of clowns in order to go. Unfortunately, due to the humiliation he let them give him, their smiles got the Joker stuck with the belief that the advice to smile more often and permanent smile the scars on her face resembled corresponded to the same nightmarish memory of his father slicing the similar scars across his son's mouth, which had then came back to haunt him, this time forever. In a desperate effort to empathy or encourage a feeling of solidarity, he reproduced his own Glasgow smile into matching his wife's by sticking a razor in his own mouth cutting his own face, but the disturbing image instead caused his wife to leave him with his psyche now damaged, unable to tolerate his new appearance. No matter how much he missed her, the Joker was driven into madness over the fact that she and the rest of his family and friends couldn't see the sense of humor behind his view to always smile like his scars do despite the horrid sight it makes because all the world cares about is the money to get rid of every atrocious sight they are unable to tolerate, which most people see often leads to corruption, and desires to earn that respect he wanted from the world by upsetting their social order through crime, believing that superficial, meaningless chaos and selfishness was basic human nature. It was never revealed to what degree these stories hold truth if any, and it is possible that the Joker himself is unaware of his true origins. Some psychological profiles on him indicate that he is insane to such an extent that he literally reinvents both his own psyche and history on a daily basis. It is therefore possible that, while neither story is true, he genuinely believed them both as he told them. In a report filed by the GCPD, there were three theories presented for the Joker's origin and identity. The first was that the Joker was institutionalized as a patient at Arkham Asylum who was either released without sanity treatment when his scars almost faded or escaped during Ra's al Ghul's and the Scarecrow's reign of fear with all the other patients at the time in an even worse condition (perhaps due to Scarecrow's terrible methods as Dr. Jonathan Crane), explaining why most of his gang were identified as some of the Arkham escapees. However, this theory is debunked on the basis that his identity has no basis within any records. The second theory was that the Joker worked as a disgruntled employee or attraction at the Haley Brothers Circus, which was documented to have connections with the mob, explaining the clown makeup he always wears for his persona. The third theory presented was that the Joker served as soldier or army private until he was sent home suffering from acute PTSD, explaining his cool demeanor and familiarity with weapons, as well as his devastating effectiveness in various forms of combat and given his experience in explosives he possibly was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician whose seen a good amount of combat overseas. ''Batman Begins Two months after Batman made his presence known to Gotham by stopping Ra's al Ghul's attack on the city with the League of Shadows, the Joker began making his presence known by committing a double homicide and armed robbery a similar "taste for theatrics", leaving behind a Joker playing card as a "calling card". When given the card while discussing with Lt. Jim Gordon the effect that he had made on Gotham since his appearance, Batman promised to investigate and was about to leave, but not before Gordon warned that just as escalation occurs in terms of the police force against crime, so might the scale and style of criminality change in reaction to Batman's appearance, with other criminals besides the Joker adopting such style. Sometime later, the Joker orchestrated the theft of a large shipment of ammonium nitrate from the Gotham Docks. In addition, he frequently attended the various heists and crimes his gang carried out while disguised as one of the accomplices, which is believed to be at least partially where he got his name from (another being that he wears clown makeup to scare people). The Dark Knight Bank Robbery Nine months later, a group of bank robbers in the Joker's gang (Bozo, Grumpy, Chuckles, Happy, Dopey, and an unidentified bus-driver) robbed the Gotham National Bank, which was used as a money-laundering front for the city's local mafia. The clown mask-wearing robbers whittled down their own numbers within minutes in a series of calculated betrayals. Finally, only "Bozo" remained, who revealed himself as the Joker to the manager of Gotham National Bank, who had earlier confronted the robbers with a shotgun. In addition, largely because he couldn't resist appearing on-camera, he also deliberately unmasked himself in front of a surveillance camera and posed. The Joker then escaped with the bank's cash in a yellow school bus, concealing his identity by driving within a convoy of other buses, and also leaving the manager at the mercy of a gas grenade stuck in his mouth. Dealing with the Mob Shortly following the bank robbery, Italian crime boss Sal Maroni mentioned the Joker's recent theft of Mob owned cash to his fellow crime leaders at a business meeting, dismissing him as a threat and saying that he was a "nobody" wearing a "cheap purple suit and make-up." The Joker, overhearing this comment and the plan presented to the Mob by Chinese mobster, Lau, arrived unannounced at the meeting while faking a laugh, as he saw their "so-called plan" as a bad joke. The mobsters were at first unwilling to hear him out, and Gambol, one of the crime lords who seemed to take the most dislike for the Joker, sent one of his men to take him out by force. The Joker unexpectedly performed a magic trick by making a pencil "disappear," and embedded the pencil in the table, and shoved Gambol's man head-first into the pencil where it indeed disappeared inside the man's head, instantly killing him. The Joker also mentioned that his suit wasn't cheap and that they ought to know this since they bought it, which meant that he used the money he stole at the start of the film to buy his suit. He proposed that it was Batman's interference that had resulted in idealistic leaders like Harvey Dent rising in popularity, and offered his services to kill him for half of all the money that Lau, an illegitimate Chinese accountant, took away from Gotham for safe keeping. He also warned them that Lau would betray them if arrested, claiming to know a squealer when he saw one. While the Bratva mobster, the Chechen, and Maroni were interested, Gambol, angered by the Joker's lack of respect, attempted to attack him, forcing the Joker to reveal his insurance policy: several grenades hidden under his coat, allowing him to make a quick escape. Frustrated, Gambol proceeded to put a bounty on him. The Joker later took revenge that night by having his men come to Gambol, claiming to have killed the Joker. In a bit of unintended tragic irony regarding the fate of his actor, the Joker's 'dead' body is brought inside in a garbage bag before attacking Gambol and proceeding to tell him the origin of his mouth scars as a way of psychological torture and intimidation, then when Gambol is most terrified and shaken, the Joker proceeds to kill him with the knife. Then with the remains of Gambol's men overpowered and at his mercy, he takes a pool stick and breaks it in half, making it spear-like and says that there is only one spot open at the moment to join his "team", then throws the piece of sharp stick at the middle of Gambol's scared men and has his gang, made up mostly of mentally-ill and unstable vicious crooks escaped from Arkham Asylum who seem to have taken the Joker as their leader, to make Gambol's men fight to the death with the stick until only one is left, and advising them to "make it fast". The Joker's Threat Eventually, realizing that Batman had retrieved Lau from Hong Kong and that the police had struck a deal to testify against them, Sal Maroni and the Chechen relented, finally hiring the Joker to kill the Batman. The Joker first kidnapped a Batman impersonator, filmed his murder and hung the body, complete with white make-up and a Joker scars, outside the mayor's office. In the murder tape he sent to the media, the Joker viciously mocks Brian Douglas (Batman impersonator) as well as to terrorize him to the point of leaving him absolutely frozen and weeping, as well as taunting his beliefs and his actions. Then when he has finished humiliating and terrifying him, the Joker proceeds to give Gotham an ultimatum. Batman must take off his mask and turn himself to the authorities and every day the Batman refuses to do so, he will murder innocent people day after day. As a result of the Batman not turning himself in, the first major victims were Janet Surillo, the judge presiding over Dent's indictments, and then Commissioner Gillian Loeb, the former via car-bomb and the latter via inserting acid into the Commissioner's scotch, respectively. Later, the Joker and his gang stormed a fundraiser at Bruce Wayne's penthouse to kill Harvey Dent. When he was unable to get the guests to inform him of Dent's location, he decided to settle for killing off the guests. He then attempted to threaten an unintimidated guest (whom he noted bore a resemblance to his own hated father), before eventually attempting to kill Rachel Dawes. Dawes attempts to drive him away, with a knee to the crotch, but he laughs it off and becomes more interested in killing her for her having "some fight in her." He was then confronted by Batman. The Joker only managed to escape by throwing Rachel Dawes out a window, who Batman then lept after and saved. This encounter also led him to initially suspect that Batman's true identity was Harvey Dent. The killings then continued with Patrick Harvey and Richard Dent and an attempt on the mayor's life at a memorial for the murdered police commissioner. The Joker appeared in public without makeup, impersonating one of the Honor Guards, as well as having most of his gang impersonate the rest of the Honor Guards. In order to further ensure that the GCPD is kept on its toes, he also placed a sniper rifle on the windowsill of the apartment room, as well as a timer to release the blinds for the GCPD sharpshooters to shoot at anyone hapless enough to be caught in the trap. Afterward, Joker, still disguised as an Honor Guard, shot his rifle at Mayor Anthony Garcia, Lt. Jim Gordon was struck in the back after willfully leaping in front of Garcia, in order to fake his death to avoid any future attempt by the Joker of attacking him with his family at home. As a result of this, Batman told Dent to call a press conference so he could reveal his identity and stop the killings. In a surprise move, Dent instead claimed to be the Batman himself and was subsequently arrested. While being transported the Joker and his gang attacked the caravan of police vehicles to kill Dent with his machine gun, a shotgun, and even a rocket-propelled grenade. Batman soon arrived to stop the assault but stayed his hand at killing the Joker. The Joker prepared to unmask Batman but Gordon, newly resurrected from his hoaxed death, stepped behind him and aimed his shotgun at his back, saying "We got you, you son of a bitch." The Joker was successfully jailed at MCU, and as a direct result, Gordon was promoted to Commissioner by the Mayor. He also does a sarcastic clap for the newly-promoted Commissioner. Assault on Gotham With the Joker in custody, Gordon and Batman believed his madness was over but became alarmed when informed that Harvey Dent had gone missing. Desperate, Gordon let Batman interrogate the Joker for information, but the Joker seemed unshaken by the pain. Instead, he gleefully told Batman his view of people as selfish and violent, only needing a little pressure before descending to madness. He also admitted he could never kill Batman, considering him his only equal. Dent's kidnapping was part of a test, to see if Batman would save him or Rachel, whom the Joker could tell Batman cared for. The Joker willingly told him where both were located. After most of the police were gone, the Joker took his guard hostage and escaped by detonating a phone-activated bomb he surgically planted in the stomach of one of his men who was arrested with him, with Lau in tow. Gordon was disheartened when he realized the Joker wanted to be captured. Dent and Rachel each awoke tied to chairs with barrels of explosive material surrounding them and a speakerphone hooked up to the other's location. Rachel confessed her love for him and agreed to marry him. Dent fell on the floor and his left side was completely immersed in turpentine. Batman arrived but found the D.A. instead of Rachel. He realized that the Joker had lied about Rachel and Dent's whereabouts to further crush Batman's morale. Batman rescued Dent as the building exploded and the District Attorney's face was badly burned, while Gordon was unable to rescue Rachel before the explosion. In the hospital, Dent was driven to madness over the loss of Rachel and blamed Batman, Gordon, and the Joker. This act caused Sal Maroni to tell Gordon the Joker's location, finding him and his craziness "too much" for business.\ The Joker later met the Chechen in a container ship with Lau and was given his reward: half the mobs smuggled money, which he casually burned along with Lau. He then betrayed the Chechen and took control of his men. He declares that Gotham deserves a new breed of criminal - one unmotivated by money or power but who commits crime purely for fun. This corresponds with something Alfred said to Bruce Wayne earlier in the film - "''Some men aren't motivated by money. Some men just want to watch the world burn". The Joker then made a call to a news program where Coleman Reese was threatening to go public on the news with information about Batman's identity. He was interrupted by the Joker who stated he had changed his mind, believing Gotham to be too boring without Batman. To "give others the fun" he threatened that if someone didn't kill the employee in sixty minutes he would blow up a hospital. Gordon then abandoned his ambush on the Joker to focus on evacuating all city hospitals. Contact with Harvey Dent During the mass evacuation, the Joker disguised himself as a nurse (still wearing his trademark face paint) and entered the hospital room of Harvey Dent. He first apologized to Dent, maintaining that he was not responsible for Rachel’s death as he lacks any idea for the repercussions of his actions, while the restrained Dent attempts in vain to kill him. The Joker introduces the former D.A. to his view of the world that his time in Gotham has introduced him to, that people, or "schemers" as he calls them, are the truest form of evil in the world, as it is them who lay out the plans of society, including when human lives are expendable. To prove his argument, he points out that if his threats were aimed at 'gangbangers' or 'soldiers', then people wouldn't really care as society trains them to see the death of such people as acceptable. Thus, he turns the disillusioned Dent against society and against the "schemers" who put his and Rachel’s life in danger, namely the corrupt cops who kidnapped them, as well as the "schemers" who viewed Rachel's life to be expendable, namely Batman and Gordon. Giving Dent a gun, the Joker advised him to break away from the law that failed him and turn to chaos, which the Joker describes as the only truly fair system, as the fate of everyone would be only decided by chance, without the interference of the flawed laws of Man. Dent responded by flipping a coin to decide the Joker's fate, giving him the same chance Rachel had. Soon after Dent left, Joker detonated the Gotham General Hospital, skipping merrily away (pausing and hitting his detonator when most of the bombs temporarily fail to blow). He and his men then steal one of the nearby evacuation buses and kidnapped the TV reporter and his crew inside. The Ferries The Joker declared that he would rule the streets and that anyone left in Gotham would be subjected to his rule. He told people they could leave now but that he would have a surprise for them in the tunnel and on the bridge, which people then avoided, using instead two ferries, one ship full of ordinary civilians and one of the criminals, as Gordon feared the Joker would want to recruit them. However, the Joker had loaded each of them with explosives. In hopes of showing everyone how evil and corrupt they can be, he gave the passengers of each ship the detonator to the bombs to the other and offers both survivals if they detonate the other ferry. If they didn't choose by midnight, the Joker would blow up both ships. Batman discovered not only the Joker's location at an unfinished skyscraper, but that the majority of his "gang" were actually hostages wearing clown-masks with unloaded guns taped to their hands and that the people dressed as hostages were the actual criminals. Batman was forced to fight not only the Joker's men but the SWAT teams as well to save the hostages. He finally confronts the Joker, which led to a final battle between the Joker and Batman (with the Joker using a metal bar and a knife). The Joker first sets a number of dogs on Batman, who is overwhelmed by their numbers. Whilst the dogs attack the Caped Crusader, the Joker flies into a senseless rage and starts bombarding Batman with a metal bar, until Batman outmatches the dogs and attacks the Joker. The two men grapple brutally, and the Joker chases Batman across the floor whilst entangling him in a steel-chained net. The fight intensifies and the Joker overpowers Batman, pinning his opponent under the scaffolding. He gleefully waited as the ferry's deadline neared, and was visibly disappointed when both groups of passengers refused to kill the other to save themselves. The civilians voted to blow up the other ferry but could not bring themselves to actually do so, while one of the criminals stepped forward and, taking the detonator, threw it out a window, saying that the cops should have done that from the start. As the deadline passed, Batman asked the Joker if he was trying to prove that everyone was as ugly as him deep down, bluntly informing the Joker that he was alone in his corruption and insanity. Before he could detonate both ferries, Batman hit him with his shooting wrist-blades and threw the man over the edge. The Joker starts to laugh as he falls to die, but Batman, refusing to kill him, instead caught him with his grapple gun and leaving him hanging for the police to capture, much to the Joker's anger. The Ace in the Hole With this act, the Joker acknowledged that Batman is really incorruptible but that Dent is no longer the "White Knight"; he's unleashed the scarred man on the city. Joker states that Dent was his "ace in the hole" in his plan to show the people of Gotham that everyone is corruptible, thus undoing Dent's work before his transformation into Two-Face. Batman then left the Joker laughing as the SWAT Team approached. Joker’s status after the events of The Dark Knight is unknown Relationships *Batman - Archenemy. *James Gordon - Enemy. *Harvey Dent/Two-Face - Enemy and creation. *Gambol - Enemy. Personality The Joker is the perfect example of mayhem, cynicism, immorality, mayhem, unpredictability, cruelty, anarchy and delusional evil. He claims to not be insane, but rather just "ahead of the curve". This may be legitimately true, in the sense that he seems to subscribe to a more morally nihilistic mindset, yet he still exhibits many symptoms of various failings of mental health. The Joker is described as having "zero empathy", which is shown throughout as being true (This led him also to doubt how deep human morality really runs, as he once said, "These people. When the chips are down; when everything has gone completely to hell, they'll eat each other"). When Batman is throwing the Joker around the room and attacking him, demanding for the location of Rachel and Harvey, he takes the assault with pleasure as he laughed while being beaten by the Batman. Similarly, when one of his minions gets electrocuted in his attempt at removing Batman's mask, he proceeds to laugh hysterically, kick the minion, then mock him by making noises similar to that of someone being electrocuted, before spitting on him and resorting to his attempt at removing the mask himself. Along with being extremely sadistic, the Joker seems to have very little care for his own safety, such as when he was telling Batman to run him over with his Batpod, and when Batman threw him off a skyscraper building to his supposed death and he did nothing but laugh (only for Batman to save him with his grapple gun), although both could have also been due to the Joker believing that either Batman would not directly murder him or that he would still 'win' by provoking Batman into proving him right by forcing the Dark Knight to commit murder. Similarly, when Gambol attempts to have the Joker killed during a mob meeting, the Joker also revealed that he wired himself with explosives, having anticipated the possibility that he'd be gunned down during his meeting. The Joker has an alarmingly high tolerance of pain, going so far as to hysterically laugh when being beaten and threatened, or even being faced with a definite death. The most notable example in his utter lack of self-preservation is when in the hospital, he gives Harvey Dent, after disfiguring him, and killing his girlfriend Rachel, a gun, and forcibly points it at his head, gambling his life on the chance that Dent would adopt his philosophy of anarchy. The Joker was intensely sadistic, giggling maniacally whilst taunting his victims. He had a sarcastic, blatantly cynical sense of humor. He possessed an unbelievably fearless mentality, as when he fights the Batman - one of the greatest, most dangerous warriors and opponents he could ever hope to face - he did so by frantically charging at him and wailing on him, something a person with human fear of pain or death would never do. He was completely unintimidated by Batman trying to run him over with the Batpod, throwing him around a stone room and smashing his head against windows, strangling him or even throwing him over the edge of a skyscraper. In fact, in the very former of these incidents, the Joker literally encouraged ''his enemy to do so, admitting that he actually wanted it to happen. He even looked childishly disappointed when Batman failed to do so. The Joker was misanthropic to an extreme, and exhibits various symptoms of an antisocial personality, blatantly disregarding laws and social norms far beyond standard deviant behavior. He was extremely callous, and had no moral or ethical center - he calmly shot down his fellow bank-robbers, even the bus driver, and threw one of his accomplices in front of him so that the man could fight the Batman. He also sneered and laughed hysterically when another accomplice was electrocuted by the Batman, proceeding to kick him and mimic his cries. The Joker also has a low level of inhibition and a relentless drive to disturb the status quo. He is driven by something other than money: he complains that the criminals of the mob are just seeking a profit and that the city deserves "a better class of criminal", namely himself. While The Joker does attempt to take control of the city, recruits mob henchmen, he appears to hold his philosophy of chaos higher than himself. He describes himself as merely an "agent" of chaos (in his speech to convince Harvey Dent to let go of his beliefs so he could prove in his ultimate plan that even the noblest of men can sink down to the Joker's level). He also doesn't actually care about money, as evidenced by his burning of the mob's money that he earned to recover Lau in front of the Chechen and stating that his actions aren't "about money." However, he did see some usefulness of money, as evidenced by the implication that he used the money he stole from Gotham National Bank to create his custom suit, acquire his equipment and weaponry, and hire others to form his own gang as the mob's agents were simply used as a means by Joker to gain control of Gotham's infrastructure and cripple the mobs power. Powers and Abilities '''Criminal Mastermind:' The Joker is a fully-fledged genius at planning and improvising criminal activities. He is incredibly intelligent and calculating, always staying one step ahead of everyone else, including Batman (for a while) and the police. His unique (if rather disturbed) worldview, as well as the complete mystery surrounding his identity also give him something of an edge. Having no connections, friends, former identities or family to be traced back to makes him very difficult to predict, track down, or even understand. Hand-To-Hand Combat: The Joker is shown to be a skilled, fearless, and unpredictable fighter, taking on mob henchmen and cops with ease, and showing how he can be lethal with many forms of weaponry; and was even capable of holding his own against Batman and trapping him near the climax of the film (although he had assistance on both occasions when fighting Batman). Immunity To Pain: The Joker doesn't really fear physical damage to himself like a normal person would, and even when brutally injured laughs at his own pain. His casual insensitivity to pain, and his extreme fearlessness, lets him take risks that a normal person wouldn't even attempt, and so most people just don't see his attacks coming, i.e. walking into a room full of mobsters and casually using a 'magic trick' to impale a pencil into one of their heads. The Joker's obliviousness to danger makes him invulnerable to what is usually Batman's greatest weapon in combat: his ability to frighten low-level thugs. Psychology: The Joker somehow understands human psychology very well. He predicts his enemies' next move and uses it against them. Appearance & Clothing The Joker is a quite tall young man (though notably shorter than Batman) dressed in a custom-tailored purple suit consisting of an elegant, purple coat and matching pin-stripe pants (kept up by suspenders rather than a belt). Underneath it, he wears a light blue trenchcoat, green vest, and a light purple patterned shirt. He is almost always seen wearing chalk white make-up on his face, consisting of black face-paint darkening the spaces around his leering brown eyes, green hair-dye spread all overlong and unkempt greasy brown hair and a red slash of lipstick smeared over a thin mouth with two gruesome scars curving upward from each corner to make a Glasgow smile, further implying his unstable psyche. The outfit and make-up get increasingly worn throughout the film, showing that the Joker indeed cares little for just about anything. During the course of the film, the Joker only once removes his make-up, revealing underneath a twisted and demonic-looking face (more frightening than with the clown makeup) with sunken brown eyes, completely yellow stained teeth and dirty/dry skin from wearing makeup for long periods of time. External links * Category:Characters Category: Villains Category:Males Category:Joker's Gang Category:The Dark Knight Characters